Just A Little Sparring
by Tessellations
Summary: A vignette about Neji, Hanabi and Hinata and how their relationship may have changed over time.


_A/N: I thought of this while Keane was blasting in my ears (the volume was really high to block out all other noises)__. It didn't turn out at all how I expected it to. Just a little Hyuuga interaction, set sometime in the future since I can't seem to handle writing about the present. Dedicated to myself since I love the Hyuugas. Hee hee._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto._

**Just A Little Sparring**

Hinata watched from her window that overlooked the training yard where her cousin and sister sparred.

Hanabi lunged towards Neji, her arm outstretched, aiming towards a vital tenketsu, only to be easily deflected by the Hyuuga prodigy. She stumbled a few steps across the courtyard before turning around and adopting the Jyuuken stance. Neji faced her calmly, mirroring her pose. His hand held out, palm upward, beckoned her. An odd smile snaked across Hanabi's face before she attacked again.

Neji dodged her attack a second time, sidestepping neatly at the last second. However, this time he grabbed her arm and jerked it, trying to unbalance her. Hanabi twisted her trapped arm to get a hold on his and spun around, tearing off his grasp on her. She grabbed his forearm with her other hand too, and used it as a lever to perform a flip so that she stood too close for him to block. Her right elbow darted towards his face, but he bent his head back at an impossible angle avoiding the blow. Hanabi sank to the floor and swept her leg across it trying to unbalance Neji, but he back-flipped and his right foot caught Hanabi under the chin, sending her sprawling backward.

Hinata drew in a sharp breath; the whole exchange had taken place in fractions of seconds. Below her, in the courtyard, Neji was standing at guard and Hanabi was picking herself off the floor.

"That's not Jyuuken. Where'd you learn it?" Neji asked in a neutral voice.

Hanabi gave one of her enigmatic smiles, "From someone. Now come on, I'm not done yet."

Hanabi re-activated the Byakugan and assaulted Neji with a barrage of attacks. She was moving so fast, her arms were a blur. But Neji was moving faster because he was blocking her every single blow. Neji's palm materialised in front of Hanabi, aiming for her heart, but she performed a quick double flip, one back and then forward and retaliated with a similar thrust towards his chest. His hand darted towards her wrist, holding it firmly while his other reached for her stomach. He lifted her bodily and flung her over his head. Hanabi landed hard on her back behind Neji. Almost immediately, she turned over onto her stomach and sat up, rubbing her wrist.

"That wasn't Jyuuken!" Hanabi said indignantly.

"No, it wasn't," Neji's face was expressionless as ever, but his tone suggested amusement.

He offered Hanabi a hand up, but she ignored it, standing up gingerly and rubbing her back. As she began to assume a fighting stance, Neji shook his head.

"No more today."

"I'm not done yet!"

"I don't think your father would thank me for beating you up."

"Don't flatter yourself."

Neji turned around and started walking away. Hanabi, on the other hand, wasn't willing to let their sparring match come to end. Neji turned to face her, his arms folded across his chest, looking uncannily like her father.

"If you wish to fight so desperately, your sister is watching us from thewindow. She would be a good match for you."

Hanabi's gaze followed Neji's towards the window where her sister was visible.

Hanabi snorted, "Please. Hinata's no challenge. I want to beat _you._"

Neji ignored her, "Hinata-sama, please come down. We wish to spar with you."

Hinata looked down nervously at the two long-haired figures looking up at her. She didn't really want to fight, but Neji had requested her to join and Hinata found it hard to deny her cousin.

She disappeared from Hanabi and Neji's view as she left her room, making her way to the courtyard.

"There you are, Hinata," Hanabi said as she appeared through a doorway, "Why were you watching us secretly? I'll beat you first and then Neji. So let's start."

"Don't underestimate your opponent even before the battle has begun." Neji lectured.

Hanabi just waved him off, taking her position in the middle of the yard. Hinata joined her. They took up the traditional Jyuuken fighting stance.

Without hesitation, they moved towards each other. After five minutes, with neither of the young women showing any sign of relenting, it seemed Hinata and Hanabi were evenly matched. A sheen of sweat glistened on their pale, unmarked foreheads that identified them as members of the Main family. Suddenly, as Hinata lunged forwards with her fingers poised to block tenketsu, Hanabi shot off into the air. Startled, Hinata lookedaround to see her sister standing against the stone wall of the courtyard. Hanabi shot off the wall with a burst of chakra from her feet, aiming for Hinata. Hanabi seemed to be moving impossibly fast, Hinata took a few steps backward, delaying her inevitable encounter with her sister. At the last second, she leant back as far as possible and her hand shot up, palm first, towards her sister's chest.

All of a sudden, they were lying in a heap. Hinata coughed loudly, Hanabi had mirrored her move and also managed to block her attack with her other arm.

"So it looks like Hanabi has won." Neji stated as he moved towards the centre of the courtyard and held out a hand to pull up Hinata. Hanabi was grinning broadly and examining her scraped elbows.

"Once you were on the wall, there was only one way to get close enough to execute the Jyuuken. Your actions were easy to predict and read." Neji said to Hanabias he methodically checked that Hinata hadn't sustained any serious damage.

Hanabi flipped her hair over her shoulder in response to his comment, "It worked on Hinata, didn't it?"

Neji gave a disdainful snort that seemed to say that it most certainly wouldn't work on _him_. Hinata silently moved to towards the porch to watch their fight from a safe distance. Hanabi was already in position, tying her hair back with a length of ribbon. They took their well-rehearsed positions opposite each other, Hanabi sporting a couple of scraped elbows and a cocky grin, and Neji asstoic as usual.

For once, it seemed that Hanabi was waiting, instead of making the first move. Neji did not waver and then suddenly,Hanabi dashed towards him. With a widening of her pupil-less eyes, Hanabi saw Neji shift his position and suddenly, his left leg flew towards her. Imitating her sister and cousin's actions during the previous matches, she bent back so that the kick skimmed the air above her. As soon as she'd avoided the first kick, Neji spun in the air so that his other leg came towards her. Hanabi didn't have time to dodge so she caught his leg in her hands hoping to unbalance him, but Neji had his hands securely on the ground so he used his leg to project Hanabi over himself. Once he did that, he was upright with his foot pressed against Hanabi's neck, only blocked by the hand that had kept its firm grip on his leg.

"You're overstepping your boundaries, you know," Hanabi said, referring to the fact that he had her pinned with his foot. She pushed his foot off and climbed to her feet, massaging her neck.

She looked at him ruefully, through a curtain of her silkyhair that had become unbound.

"That's enough for today." Neji said.

"Alright, let's get some dinner at that ramen place you're always raving about, Hinata." Hanabi said resignedly.

Neji raised an eyebrow at Hinata, probably because he couldn't see Hinata 'raving' about anything, and because he had a sneaking suspicion why Hinata might like this ramen place.

"Come on then, let's go." Hanabi urged already past Hinata and halfway through the door.

Neji and Hinata followed Hanabi inside more slowly, shutting the sliding door behind them.

Five minutes later, they had left the Hyuuga residence, walking towards Ichiraku Ramen.

"So Hinata, I've heard from a very reliable source about you and a certain blond…?" Hanabi glanced sideways at Hinata, a wicked grin on her face.

If she expected Hinata to blush, she was mistaken.

In fact, Hinata said rather airily, "Oh? Ino and me? I'm afraid that's just rumours. However, I can tell you that your reliable source is having clandestine meetings with a certain member of his old genin team."

Hanabi looked at Neji, incredulous and aghast, "_Rock Lee?_"

"Oh very funny, ha ha." Neji said sarcastically.

Hanabi and Hinata shared a 'sibling' look.

"So what about you, Hanabi?" Neji interjected before they could gang up on him, "Who taught you those martial arts moves?"

"I could ask the same of you." She countered, although her cheeks were tinged slightly pink.

They walked on, bickering good-naturedly and at ease in each others' presence.

* * *

So what did you think? Was it in-character? Were the fight scenes coherent? Review please. >) 


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